- [Narrator] Where I'm concerned, there's style
and then there's style.
And no matter which side you come down on,
you have to admit that crafting a logo out of a roll
of black electrical tape is definitely
someone's expression of style.
Not sure if this is a step forward or backwards
when that's a designer's media of choice
but if it's only due to its unexpected nature,
this trend leaves a mark.
Landing somewhere in the realm between a brutal application
of graffiti and a finely-finessed model line design,
these logos embrace the attitude of a miscreant.
It's the kind of art you might expect to see on the side
of a third-hand service truck whose owner
couldn't afford a vinyl placard.
This DIY styling is typically crafted out of common width
straight strips that fail to negotiate a corner
without a hard splice and cobbled together
with little concern for cleaning up the junctures.
How completely appropriate for the Woody Check
Skateboard Association, mashing up the republic's
two-tailed rampant lion with a marauder on a longboard.
Take a closer peek at the mis-registered corners
and unbending structure that give a mischievous feel
to this group of marks.
It's exactly what makes them completely approachable
and removes any doubt the owner of said marks
taking themselves too seriously.
Flexibility of this style allows it to morph
from image to typography.
But it becomes most evident in the absence of curves.
This naive style's going to have a pretty finite market.
But when there's a need to completely remove
any pretentious mantle, guaranteed this is the express.
Not sure I could find three more polar examples
of expression to close out this logo trend report.
Each of these clusters have embraced a specific quality
because the aesthetics are appropriate to the message,
a refined glance back, brutal mischief,
and unpretentious type.
The common ligature of this trio is the essence they exude,
the symbolism they champion, and the blatant expression
of style, not of the designer but of the client
these marks are conceived to represent.